Silencing the critics is unparalleled with a record attendance of over 21,000

Unsolvable started as an idea, and has become a phenomenon.

The three-on-three women’s basketball league started last year in Miami, and this year the league decided to go on tour. Its debut on Friday night led to record-breaking sales for the doubleheader title.

With 21,490 fans in attendance at Philadelphia’s Xfinity Mobile Arena, Unrivaled set all-time records for a women’s professional basketball regular season game and the most attended event ever at an arena home to the Philadelphia 76ers and Flyers, as well as a series of concerts.

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The previous separate records were 20,711, set by Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever and the Washington Mystics on September 19, 2024, and 21,424, set by the Backstreet Boys’ “Into the Millennium” Tour on September 29, 1999.

Some critics may be surprised, considering the low viewership numbers at the start of the league’s second season. But David Levy, the league’s first investor and former president of TNT Sports, felt the numbers were skewed and success was imminent.

“I’m totally shocked by that, and maybe I shouldn’t be with what’s going on in the world these days with the news, how the wrong people came to the first two weeks of Unrivaled. In the first two weeks, we ran to football. Football, NFL, college, Monday night, championship game, do you think anyone is going to watch Unrivaled? Maybe not,” Levy admitted in a recent Business interview. “So, all of a sudden you come out and go, ‘The movement is dead.’ No, it shocks me.”

Breeze’s Paige Bueckers controls the ball against the Phantoms during the first half of the Unrivaled 2026 game at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Jan. 30, 2026, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Hunter Martin/Getty Images/Getty)

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League sources told FOX Business that Unrivaled is on track to surpass $40 million in league revenue this season, which is up more than 48 percent from last season’s $27 million in revenue. Even on a weekend with low ratings, Levy said, engagement was on the rise. Sales were also up 54% from September through the opening weekend of the season compared to the same period last year.

“I’m all about the facts. The facts are, every other metric is high,” Levy said.

Levy said he knew the league would be fun when he saw the level of play was A-plus.

“The most important thing is that the bottom product should be great. I didn’t know that out of the gate. I didn’t know how hard these girls were playing. I didn’t. Was this going to be more than a scrimmage? But after the first two weeks, I knew it was gold,” said Levy.

Clark and A’ja Wilson, arguably the WNBA’s two biggest stars, have yet to enter the league. But that’s OK for now, Levy said.

“If you closed your eyes and tried to say, ‘What if this was an NBA product? And you had the top 56 NBA players without Steph Curry and LeBron didn’t play, but everyone was there. This would be the hottest thing in the middle of the summer. If that was a summer league, it would sell out,'” said Levy.

Cameron Brink of the Breeze controls the ball against the Phantoms during the second half of the Unrivaled 2026 game at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Jan. 30, 2026, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Hunter Martin/Getty/Getty Images)

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“It’s all the best players playing in a three-on-three league. It’s a really big opportunity, that’s why I think it just took off so quickly. The level of play, the names on the back of the jersey, the social strategy is amazing. These women, they all have equality. Everyone has a following; female athletes are completely involved with their fans. The scope, the idea of ​​why the league is something I think is amazing. It’s as successful as it is just a year and three weeks later.”

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